In Search of Meaningful Work

So many people are in search of work right now that it boggles the mind. Many are in search of full-time work in the field they had worked in before the downsizings. Others are scrambling to take whatever work they can get. Some are struggling to reinvent themselves for the next act of their lives.

If you are in this boat, I'd like to suggest that you add to your list: Search for meaningful work.

What is meaningful work?

Meaningful work is paradoxical: It's work that doesn't seem like work to you. When you do this work, you are in love with it and the time flows by like a river.

If you have ever felt this way while working at something, reflect on it. What was that work? What was it about that work that seems to connect to your heart and soul?

My friend Kenny Moore has written and spoken about this: "All of us are born into this world with an “acorn” that is destined to grow into a mighty oak. This acorn is often referred to as our calling, vocation or destiny."

This is the work we were born to do. It's the "golden seed" planted in us before we were born. It's our calling. Our reason for being here.

And each of us has that work to do. Our mission in life is to find it and pursue it.

Last year, I started a network called The Heart of Meaningful Work, intended to be a global community for conversations about finding meaning in our work. I invite you to join it on LinkedIn.

______________________This post was written by Terrence Seamon, June 28, 2010. For more career transition and coaching tips like this, check out Terry’s website Facilitation Solutions and invite him into your organization as a speaker.

Comments

I think for many of us, especially for those of us 50+, this down turn has had some if not all of us think about "meaningful work." Loving what I do each day, happy to have a meaningful place to go to -- but at the end of the day, can that "meaningful work" pay the bills. Substitute teaching can't. Not from the district I sub in. Subbing was a start to go back to teaching FT - and we all know what has happened in our state.

And for sure we have never lived above our means - but the wall in front of us makes at least me concerned about tomorrow - more so then I was yesterday.

I have some more avenues to explore, and I am going back to school in the fall for a Special Ed cert - Just taking it one day at a time. Not sure what else to do anymore.

A frazzled cowboy once said, "I'm so busy, I don't know if I found a rope or lost my horse."
Clearly that dazed and confused cowboy is trying to make sense out his situation.
How often, in your life, can you relate to that?
Organizational psychologist Karl Weick wrote some very interesting stuff about human behavior and organization. In one piece, he wrote about a team of smoke-jumpers who were dropped by parachute into a major forest fire. Though highly trained, some things happened that they were unprepared for. As a result, they became disorganized and sadly most of them died.
What happened? Weick wondered if there was a failure of sensemaking. Sensemaking is the process by which people give meaning to what they are experiencing.
Weick's concept of "sensemaking" refers to the mental process of interpreting and constructing the reality we find ourselves in. So defined, we are sensemaking pretty much all the time as we go about our daily lives. Most of…

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Many have endeavored to capture the key ingredients in customer service, so I have decided to throw my hat into the ring as well.

I call my approach Customer Service With HEART:

H = Help and Hear - You are there to Help the customer. Plain and simple. And the first (and most important) thing you do is listen. Hear the customer fully before responding. This may be the toughest part of listening. We have to make the choice to listen, especially when we are busy, preoccupied, stressed, and distracted. When you focus on the Other, pay attention to What is being said, as well as What is not being said. This includes the non-verbal signs the person i…